At the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) held a forum inHanoi on October 29 to look at ways to improve the competitiveness ofVietnamese goods and take advantage of new generation tradeagreements.
Participants said new generation trade agreements could hold the keys tosuccess for many Vietnamese enterprises, especially smaller firms, so theyshould be making every effort to seize opportunities they offer.
According to MoIT Deputy Minister Do Thang Hay, Vietnam is now a member of manynew FTAs including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA).
“Participating in FTAs has helped the import and export market expandand diversify, and the financial services market become more developed with theparticipation of foreign investors, so institutional systems andpolicies must be completed to meet the requirements of integration and theimplementation of these commitments,” he said.
Participants said new generation trade agreements could hold the keys tosuccess for many Vietnamese enterprises, especially smaller firms, so theyshould be making every effort to seize opportunities they offer.
According to MoIT Deputy Minister Do Thang Hay, Vietnam is now a member of manynew FTAs including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA).
“Participating in FTAs has helped the import and export market expandand diversify, and the financial services market become more developed with theparticipation of foreign investors, so institutional systems andpolicies must be completed to meet the requirements of integration and theimplementation of these commitments,” he said.
“Alongwith the country's accession to the WTO in 2007, FTAshave contributed to boosting the country's GDP to more than 300 percentand increased import-export turnover by 350 percent,” he added.
Hai said while the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and influencing the globaleconomy, commodity retail in Vietnam has emerged as one of the brightspots for the macro economy.
According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), total estimated retail salesof consumer goods and services in the third quarter of 2020 reached 1,305trillion VND (56.7 billion USD), an increase of 14.4 percent compared to thesecond quarter of 2020 and 4.5 percent over the same period last year.
In the first three quarters, retail sales of goods reached 2,907.1 trillion VND,an increase of 4.8 percent over the same period last year, GSO data showed.
“It is a positive result, clearly demonstrating the role of domestic goodsduring the unpredictable developments of epidemics and naturaldisasters. At the same time, it clearly shows the role of Vietnamese productsin the domestic market because they are becoming increasingly favoured byconsumers,” Hai told the forum.
According to a MoIT survey, Vietnamese products had become moreappreciated and were being given priority by distributors and retailers inVietnam. The proportion of Vietnamese products in modern distribution systemswas high. Specifically, Vietnamese goods in Co.opmart accounted for between 90percent and 93 percent; in Satra between 90 percent and 95 percent; inVinmart 96 percent; in Vissan 95 percent and in Hapro 95 percent.
Mentioning local enterprises, Tran Duy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning andInvestment, said despite being an important development engine for theeconomy and accounting for about 98 per cent of the total number ofenterprises, the majority of private enterprises are still small or micro,which prevents them from accumulating capital to invest in innovatetechnology, expand their production scale or improve management skills andhuman resources.
Considering many SMEs still had short-term mindsets, he said this makes itdifficult for them to build trust with long-term partners todevelop together for mutual benefit.
Dong added that Vietnam has not yet entered the ecosystem and value chainof leading foreign enterprises, saying currently Japanese companies,some of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam, procured about 32.4 percentof services and input products from local suppliers while the ratewas much higher in China, Thailand and Indonesia.
He also said that links between domestic and private foreign enterprises,and between small and large enterprises, remained negligible and limited.
As a member of the Advisory Group of the Government, Tran Dinh Thien said therewere strong signs of potential in the country's private sector, butthere were still many weak points after 35 years of renovation.
He said the FTAs also posed challenges for Vietnamese businesses becausethey were having to compete with more imported goods thanks to tariffpreferences.
To change this, Thien said Vietnam must stop the principle of "ask -give" when allocating resources because it could lead tocorruption, waste and distorting the entire market structure.
Regarding local enterprises racing to sell their products at home and overseas,Nguyen Thi Dong, the owner of Hoa Lan Company which produces naturalcosmetic goods, said “We face unhealthy competition from fake and smuggledproducts from other countries.”
Dong, who distributes her products to provinces across thecountry through local women's unions, said: “Even though we have moreand more customers buying our natural products, it is still difficultcompeting with fake imported products.”
At the forum, Luong Van Thang, Chairman of Viet Tiep Lock Joint Stock Company, one ofthe biggest lock producers in Vietnam, said: “To enter export markets likethe EU, we have invested in high technology and a protected trademark.”
Thang said investing in anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property was alsoa core issue that the company was focusing on to protect the brandand meet the strict standards of the FTAs. The firm planned to applyan anti-counterfeiting authentication process via QR codes to helpconsumers retrieve information about their locks on their smartphone apps,he said./.
Hai said while the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and influencing the globaleconomy, commodity retail in Vietnam has emerged as one of the brightspots for the macro economy.
According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), total estimated retail salesof consumer goods and services in the third quarter of 2020 reached 1,305trillion VND (56.7 billion USD), an increase of 14.4 percent compared to thesecond quarter of 2020 and 4.5 percent over the same period last year.
In the first three quarters, retail sales of goods reached 2,907.1 trillion VND,an increase of 4.8 percent over the same period last year, GSO data showed.
“It is a positive result, clearly demonstrating the role of domestic goodsduring the unpredictable developments of epidemics and naturaldisasters. At the same time, it clearly shows the role of Vietnamese productsin the domestic market because they are becoming increasingly favoured byconsumers,” Hai told the forum.
According to a MoIT survey, Vietnamese products had become moreappreciated and were being given priority by distributors and retailers inVietnam. The proportion of Vietnamese products in modern distribution systemswas high. Specifically, Vietnamese goods in Co.opmart accounted for between 90percent and 93 percent; in Satra between 90 percent and 95 percent; inVinmart 96 percent; in Vissan 95 percent and in Hapro 95 percent.
Mentioning local enterprises, Tran Duy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning andInvestment, said despite being an important development engine for theeconomy and accounting for about 98 per cent of the total number ofenterprises, the majority of private enterprises are still small or micro,which prevents them from accumulating capital to invest in innovatetechnology, expand their production scale or improve management skills andhuman resources.
Considering many SMEs still had short-term mindsets, he said this makes itdifficult for them to build trust with long-term partners todevelop together for mutual benefit.
Dong added that Vietnam has not yet entered the ecosystem and value chainof leading foreign enterprises, saying currently Japanese companies,some of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam, procured about 32.4 percentof services and input products from local suppliers while the ratewas much higher in China, Thailand and Indonesia.
He also said that links between domestic and private foreign enterprises,and between small and large enterprises, remained negligible and limited.
As a member of the Advisory Group of the Government, Tran Dinh Thien said therewere strong signs of potential in the country's private sector, butthere were still many weak points after 35 years of renovation.
He said the FTAs also posed challenges for Vietnamese businesses becausethey were having to compete with more imported goods thanks to tariffpreferences.
To change this, Thien said Vietnam must stop the principle of "ask -give" when allocating resources because it could lead tocorruption, waste and distorting the entire market structure.
Regarding local enterprises racing to sell their products at home and overseas,Nguyen Thi Dong, the owner of Hoa Lan Company which produces naturalcosmetic goods, said “We face unhealthy competition from fake and smuggledproducts from other countries.”
Dong, who distributes her products to provinces across thecountry through local women's unions, said: “Even though we have moreand more customers buying our natural products, it is still difficultcompeting with fake imported products.”
At the forum, Luong Van Thang, Chairman of Viet Tiep Lock Joint Stock Company, one ofthe biggest lock producers in Vietnam, said: “To enter export markets likethe EU, we have invested in high technology and a protected trademark.”
Thang said investing in anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property was alsoa core issue that the company was focusing on to protect the brandand meet the strict standards of the FTAs. The firm planned to applyan anti-counterfeiting authentication process via QR codes to helpconsumers retrieve information about their locks on their smartphone apps,he said./.
VNA
